On the Linguistic Turn, Again: a Rortian Note on the ‘Williamson/Hacker-Controversy’

Abstract

Timothy Williamson and Peter Hacker have recently disputed if the ‘linguistic
turn’ in philosophy has been coming into end or not. In this paper their
‘controversy’ is discussed from a point of view offered by Richard Rorty’s
pragmatism. Here the linguistic turn is associated with the problem of
representation, and how the relation between mental and linguistic versions of
it is to be seen. A ‘Rortian’ will find certain aspects in both of their views
agreeable, but radically opposing some others as well. However, the outcome of
the paper is to point out that the differences in the controversy reflect deeper
metaphilosophical commitments; the issue in hand is very much the ‘Kantian’
legacy of philosophy.